INDS
by Skellieton
Summary: Stephan works for the International Defense against the Supernatural, and hunts down troublesome monsters. He's good at his job, and never ran into any problems, until he received a mission at Freddy's Pizza where he must face unforeseen obstacles such as marauding monsters and horrible work hours. Rated T because of some violence and cursing.
1. Chapter 1

Stephan Abernathy walked through the long hallways of the I.N.D.S building, heading towards his bosses office. He hummed the tune of "London Bridge" as he strolled towards the large metal doors to the room in which the leader of I.N.D.S resided. A guard wearing a standard I.N.D.S uniform, including a long silver sword on his belt, stood outside the doors. Stephan casually flicked out his badge as he approached the door, and the guard nodded in acknowledgement. He unlocked the doors, and Stephan entered the office. He heard a low thud from behind him as the doors shut. He stood in a large room that looked more like a king's throne room than an office. Heads of an assortment of monster parts lined the walls, including the full body of the Rake, which they had trouble finding a taxidermist that would be willing to stuff it. A smile crossed his face as he thought of the razor-clawed creature. That had been a nasty one.

His boss, Robert E. Smiter, sat in a huge chair. Well, if you could even call it a chair. It was plush, maroon, and so huge that an ogre could have sat comfortably. The arms of the chair were turned up into dual dragon heads that breathed mahogany flame. In the soft fabric that Robert was now leaning his back on, was golden embroidery of a variety scenes depicting monsters being killed; a vampire burning, a massive squid-like creature being harpooned, a knight cutting a dragon's head off, etc., etc. All in all, the chair itself cost a few hundred-thousand dollars. The desk Robert sat in front of was made out of ivory, and the floor was white marble. The colors didn't really match, but if it cost more than it should Robert had it. He approached the chair set out in front of Robert's desk, which wasn't nearly as extravagant as the one Robert sat in, but that was okay with Stephan. As he pulled the chair out to sit in it, Robert looked up from some kind of book to finally acknowledge Stephan's existence.

Robert was a middle age man whose belly had grown significantly over the years, and whose hair had begun to fall out so he had it shaved. He wore a fancy white suit that had probably been made custom to fit him, and a tie that matched the color of his chair. He used to be the greatest member of I.N.D.S, and even took the last name of "Smiter" just because of all the undead he had destroyed. He had, believe it or not, taken down a drug ring of undead called "The Spooky Scary Skeletons", which was unbelievably stupid. But now, it was evident that the leader of I.N.D.S had spent more time organizing raids against the supernatural threats in the world then actually going on them. He closed the book in his hands and set in on the desk. Then he took off his reading glasses. "Stephan! It's good to see you!"

Stephan nodded politely. "And you sir."

Robert scooted closer to the desk so he could lay his hands out like a tent in front of him. "Now Stephan, you've been with us a long time in the International Defense against the Supernatural."

He shrugged. "I guess you could say that." In fact, he had been hunting down monsters for at least half his life. Though, he hadn't really wanted to get into the business. He just kind of fell into it.

"Well Stephan, since you were so vital in taking down the Slenderman and his cronies, and many others since then, I feel like I can trust you."

That was also true. His first big mission was to bring the monster only known as the Slenderman to justice. Stephan and his team had gone into Slender's mansion and fought through his uncountable number of followers until they reached the master. He was captured and taken to this very base to live out the rest of his life; however long that might be. Stephan on the other hand, had been promoted after the downfall of the Slenderman, who had been a major player in the supernatural world especially in recent years. Again, he nodded to his superior. "You can trust me, Boss."

Robert drummed his fingers on the desk noisily. "You see, I have a new problem that's come up, and I need the very best man to deal with it."

Best man. So it was a solo mission then. "I'm listening."

The I.N.D.S leader took a file from a drawer in his desk and slid it over to Stephan. The hunter picked up the file, and looked at the big, red letters that read CONFIDENTIAL and were slapped across the manila folder. He looked towards Robert to continue.

"I'm sure you're aware of the Pizzeria known as "Freddy's"?" Robert said, reaching over and opening the folder in Stephan's hands. A black and white picture of a cheesy looking band of animatronic characters greeted him. He grimaced. He was well aware of Freddy's, and he had a great dislike for it.

"Yes sir." Stephan said, not looking away from the animatronics.

"Then I'm sure you know of what happened there, but I will go over it." Robert said, and then continued. "Five children went missing at Freddy's about, ah; it's been roughly twenty years now. They were lured away by a man wearing a yellow bear costume, and probably killed. The bodies were never found, but after that event parents began complaining that the animatronics smelled bad."

Stephan narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean the animatronics 'smelled bad'?"

"That's just it. The animatronics began to smell, and… well… blood was leaking out of their eyes and mouth." Robert said.

Stephan frowned. "That's disgusting."

Robert shook his head. "And no one even opened the dang robots up to see what was the problem. The suits stopped doing that after a day, so nobody ever bothered with it. But now we have a problem." He cleared his throat. "When the incident first occurred we dismissed it as just a psycho killing people, and nothing supernatural involved. Now we're not so sure."

If Stephan wasn't interested before, he was now. "What are you saying?"

"We've been getting reports of the animatronics attacking the night guards working at the pizzeria." Robert picked a letter opener up off his desk and began to fiddle with it. "While I don't really know if this is true, we've also had a few alerts on our computers of someone attempting to hack us from that location. Something fishy is going on down there, and I want to know what it is."

"So you're saying that someone murdered five kids, stuffed their bodies into the animatronics and now these animatronics are trying to kill the night guards… you've got to be kidding me."

"That's the just of it, yes, but these things are not only trying to kill people they are killing people. I've sent in two men before coming to you, and neither of them came back from their first night at Freddy's. If this is truly a supernatural phenomenon it is our, or in this case your, duty to stop these things from causing anymore death."

Stephan was silent for a while he digested this. Robert looked at him intently, waiting for him to say something. "Sir… I've been to this place before." He said hesitantly.

His boss raised an eyebrow. "Yes, so have I."

Stephan shook his head. "No, no. I was there when the kids were killed."

Robert leaned forward even more. "Really?"

Stephan suddenly felt a little sick. "Yeah, my best friend was having a birthday party. I left to go and get some pizza, and when I came back five of the kids were gone including Tom and his sister. I never saw them again."

Robert grabbed the file and put it back under his desk. "Stephan, I believe this is the perfect mission for you. You might finally get some closure over what happened to your friends."

Stephan was still unsure. "I don't know Boss, maybe this isn't the best mission for me to go on. Kill a dragon, sure. Destroy a rampaging golem? I'm your man. But murder and mystery? Count me out."

Robert smiled, which was never a good sign. "Stephan, I'm not asking you if you want to go. I've already gotten you a job as the night guard at the restaurant. You start tomorrow."

Stephan swallowed loudly. He felt a feeling he hadn't felt it a while. Fear. Pure, childlike fear. He used to have nightmares when he was a kid after his friends were killed. He had dreamed that whoever killed them was coming for him. And now he was walking right back into that horrible place, perhaps right into the clutches of the murderer who he had feared as a boy.

Robert scoffed. "Look Stephan. I don't need you to become Sherlock freaking Holmes okay? I just need you to find out what's going on, then do what you do best and swing your sword around, make some heads roll. Got it?"

As much as he hated it, he couldn't refuse. "Yeah." He muttered.

"What was that?" Robert asked."

"Yes sir." Stephan amended, though he nigh shouted in his boss's face when he did.

Robert nodded once then waved a hand at him halfheartedly. "Go. Jackson will brief you on the rest of your mission and give you your equipment." Robert picked up his book again, and began turning the pages frantically. "Dang it, forgot the bookmark again!" He said angrily, though to no one in particular. When Stephan was sure his boss had nothing more to say, he reopened the steel doors and left Robert to find his page.

Stephan walked through the right wing of the building to find Jackson, which was also where the more dangerous monsters and demons were housed. The ones that were still alive at least. On either side of him were glass prisons filled with evil. While the glass didn't seem like a good idea at first glance, it really was. It was infused with silver, so nothing supernatural could touch it much less break out of it. The glass also kept them from using any of their powers, or at least, kept their fire blasts and magic arrows from killing the people working there. Plus you got to mock them if you could see them. And that was fun.

As he navigated the halls towards Jackson, many of the supernatural prisoners shouted things at him.

"What?" This guy's not dead yet?" A gargoyle exclaimed from his perch.

"Is the job paying well Stephan?" A red scaled dragon, Astyanax, called lazily.

"Let me out human!" A vampire lord commanded.

As he passed them him Stephan called from over his shoulder merrily. "You can't compel me from behind the glass, Faran!"

The creature screamed in rage from his prison. "You son of-"

A passing employee hit the mute button on Faran's cage, silencing him.

Eventually he came to the small office that Jackson worked in. He had a tiny desk that he could almost always be found behind. He was in charge of the equipment in I.N.D.S, and Stephan had actually grown good friends with him over the years. Jackson was actually some kind of supernatural creature disguised as a human, but Stephan could never remember which kind. And while he was curious, he wasn't going to ask. Right at that moment he was talking with Sarah, who was a hunter like Stephan, and they were both standing over a stack of papers on his desk. They didn't seem to notice him approaching.

"No, no, no. That's just stupid." Jackson was saying.

Sarah glared at him. "Your theory isn't much better, Jackie."

He glared right back. "Yeah? You must have run into a necromancer or two in your years as a hunter. You should know how these things work."

Whatever it was, Sarah still looked doubtful. "You can't just bind someone's soul to a toaster."

Jackson shook his head. "No you'd need the organs and blood for it to actually bind to an object, but we aren't talking about toasters here."

"I was just using a toaster-"

Stephan decided to interrupt the argument before it grew anymore heated. "Hey guys, what's up?"

Jackson and Sarah's heads both snapped towards him hurriedly, but then they relaxed. "Stephan!" Jackson said, throwing his arms in the air. "Just the person I wanted to see."

Stephan walked over the smooth tile and stopped in front of his desk. "I was told you could give me my stuff for my newest mission."

Jackson shook his head excitedly. "Yeah, Sarah and I were just talking about that. You see, she thinks that-" Jackson broke out laughing suddenly, and Sarah's frown deepened. Jackson put his hand on Sarah's arm to try and steady himself but she shrugged him off. Finally Jackson caught his breath. "Sorry… sorry… so anyway Sarah here thinks that someone hacked the animatronics to kill the night guards."

Stephan didn't really see why that was such horrible theory. "So?"

"I mean, come on Stephan! You know just as well as I do that we live in a supernatural world. Plus her theory is boring." He chuckled when Sarah punched him in the arm. "My theory is that someone stuffed the dead kids into the animatronic animals, and then bonded their souls with the robots." He made an explosion motion with his arms. "Boom. Instant reanimated corpses, plus metal skeletons; even better than the fleshy kind if you want soldiers."

"Okay, there are two problems with that." Sarah said, matter-o-factly.

Jackson rolled his eyes. "And what might those be, all-knowledgeable Sarah who hasn't even received any sort of college degree."

"I haven't either." Stephan piped in.

Sarah went on with her explanation. "If someone went through all the trouble to learn that complicated spell, why would they use it on a bunch of kids in a pizzeria? And why would these haunted robots be killing night guards?"

Jackson shrugged. "I dunno, but if my theory is correct then I feel bad for the guy who got stuck in the bunny."

"What?" Stephan asked, confused.

"You know… there's a bunny robot; I think his name is Boogie or something, but come on, you have to agree with me. Killer robot bunny? Good look terrifying anyone." He chuckled, and then clapped his hands. "Anyway, I'll go get you your stuff." Jackson walked away towards the storage room. He kicked the Slenderman's cage, which was on the way there. The tall white man seemed very unamused.

Sarah watched Jackson go, then turned to Stephan and gave him a look of concern. "You ready for this?"

He sat down in the chair in front of Jackson's desk. He put his head in his hands. "Not really."

She looked like she knew what he was feeling. "You'll be alright. You always are. I mean, you took that guy down." She said, jabbing a thumb at the Slenderman who was just standing there, doing absolutely nothing.

While it wasn't much, Stephan was grateful she was trying to reassure him. "You know, I really hope Jackson is wrong. Because if he's right, then these monsters were my friends when I was like, five."

"Rough." She said.

Just then, Jackson came back. He was holding a guitar case. He cleared the papers off his desk and set the case down. Curious, Stephan leaned forward a bit. Jackson unlatched the case and opened it up. Inside was Stephan's most precious possession, his silver sword, among other things.

"Okay, so here is your cover. You can't just walk into a restaurant holding an arsenal made for killing monsters, so you will walk into a restaurant holding a 'guitar'." He sifted through the contents, explaining what each thing was and what it did, even though Stephan knew already.

"So this is your sword, of course." He scanned over the items. "And, uh, this is your phone so you can call, keep me and the Boss updated." He shrugged. "Or you could watch cat videos. I hear being a night guard is a boring job."

"Ha ha." Sarah said in a monotone voice. "Funny Jackson is funny."

"You bet your hat he is. Anyway here are some EMP grenades for the robots. If I'm right and they have biological components as well as mechanical ones, this won't kill them but it will slow them down. And last but not least…" He reached into the case and pulled out a red circular object. "I have this 'Easy Button' I got from Staples, so that after the monsters are dead you can press it. I mean, how awesome is that?"

Stephan couldn't help smiling at that one, but Sarah coughed in disgust. Stephan grabbed his 'guitar' once it was all latched up again. He waved to his friends as he walked away. "See you guys after I take out a band of raging animals made for kids!" Or his best friends from childhood, he reminded himself.


	2. Chapter 2

Stephan walked in Freddy Fazbear's Pizza during the middle of the day, hoping that he could get some tips from his temporary boss, or any rumors form the employees. Freddy's didn't seem like the sort of place any murders would take place, security guards or otherwise. Children ran everywhere chasing each other, or playing the arcade games for useless junk they would lose a day. Parents and teens sat at the tables eating pizza and playing on their phones or watching the kids have fun. A few employees were scattered around, making sure nothing happened, and cleaning up any large messes. The main band was on the stage, playing some sort of cheesy kid's song, and although they looked a bit old and ratty, they didn't look evil. Except for the bunny though, he was made of plastic instead of felt and stood out form the other two. So Jackson had indeed been right, there was a bunny robot. It made Stephan wonder what else Jackson was right about. He clutched the paper that said he was going to be the night guard in his hand and looked for the manager's office. While he was looking around, he wasn't paying attention and he bumped into a guard. He wore the Freddy's uniform but had a golden security badge added to the normal attire. His brown hair was spiked up, and he had very shifty look in his eyes.

"Oops! Sorry 'bout-" He began to say, but then noticed the paper in Stephan's hand. He seemed to recognize it, and he glanced back towards the animatronics nervously. "Are you the guy that's gonna' be the new night guard?"

Stephan nodded and stuck out his hand. "I'm Stephan."

The guard took it hesitantly. "I'm Jeremy. I used to be in that position, and let me tell you Stephan, the twenty dollars aren't worth it." He looked back towards the singing animals. "Those things are monsters. I barely made it out alive. After you do five nights on the night shift they move you to the day shift like they did for me." He lowered his voice. "But nobody makes it to the fifth night, much past the fifth night. And the things can't be killed; I've tried time and time again."

"Thanks Jeremy, but it's okay." Stephan said. "I know what I'm doing."

He gave Stephan a confused look. "Why would you still want the job after what I've just told you?"

"I need the cash." He told Jeremy simply, and walked towards the manager's office. He wanted to tell Jeremy that he had come to solve this, and that everyone would be safe, but he couldn't. It was against the rules to discuss I.N.D.S business with civilians. He knocked on the door to the manager's office twice and waited for a response.

"Come in!" Said a man in the inside of the room. Stephan opened the door and walked inside. It was a plain room, quite unlike Robert's. The man that sat in in the desk was tall, thin, and very concerned looking, also unlike Robert.

"I'm the new night guard sir, reporting for duty." He said, and placed his papers on the man's desk.

He looked up at Stephan in surprise. Hope entered his gaze. "So you're the one they sent?"

Stephan tried to look as innocent as possible. "I don't know what you mean sir."

The manager smiled. "I know who you are, or at least some of who you are. Your leader told me a little bit to be sure I'd hire you."

That made sense. "I see. So you are okay if some damage happens during my shifts?"

The man nodded hurriedly. "Of course. Do whatever you need to." He stood up. "Let me give you a tour of the place, and introduce you to your new friends."

They walked around the pizzeria, and the manager gave him the names of all the robots; Freddy Fazbear, Chica the Chicken, and Bonnie the Bunny who oddly enough was supposed to be a male. Apparently Bonnie was shinier then the others was because the old Bonnie fell into disrepair and they replaced him with a metal version. Also, the new metal version was supposed to be stronger and more durable than the old ones so they could help protect the children. Chica 2.0 and Freddy 2.0 had apparently been scrapped and put into storage, so they had to keep old Chica and Freddy. The manager led him away from the stage into a smaller room where kids were all gathered around a fourth animatronic. It looked sort of like a wolf, but it was red in coloring so it had to be a fox. It was all dressed up in pirate gear, including a hook instead of its right hand.

"That's Foxy," The manager was saying. "He's our storyteller. We just recently brought him back into commission, because he had a little accident a while ago that had him shut down. But due to…. Um… popular demand he was brought back."

Foxy was in the middle of his storytelling right at that moment. "Aye, thar I was fightin' t' mighty kraken with me own two hands when-" The fox stopped when he caught sight of Stephan and the manager. His eyes seemed to widen in surprise. "By me own two eaye, can it be?"

The manager grabbed Stephan by the shoulders and rushed him out of the room. Stephan was too shocked to resist. The fox had recognized him. He had recognized him. Maybe it was from when he had come here when he was kid. Or maybe…

As if he had read Stephan's mind, the manager spoke up. "Don't worry about it son. The old pirate does that every time he sees me. I think it must be a glitch."

Stephan didn't say anything more, because he wanted to believe what the manager had just said. He really, really wanted to.

The manager lead him back into the main area, and just when Stephan thought the tour was done, he lead him down a long hallway that slowly got creepier as the moved down it. At the end of the hallway was an open doorway with no door. Stephan and the manager walked in, and the hunter took a quick gaze around the room. There was a small desk with a collection of plushy versions of the characters outside and a fan on top. A couch was set out in the middle of the room which looked quite raggedy. There was another open doorway across from the one he had just come through, and open vents by the doorways. There was another hallway leading from this room to somewhere else, which was completely open as well. The manager walked over to the desk and moved some of the plushies out of the way. Beneath them was a tablet, which the manager handed to Stephan.

"This is your main tool and best friend. You can watch every room from the comfort of your office by looking through the cameras." He clicked through the rooms, each one cheery and filled with children, except for one. It was dark, creepy, and filled with animatronic parts. Leaning up against a wall was a dark shape, which had its face completely ripped off except for tis bottom jaw. That must have been the old Bonnie. "Now, I'm going to need you to do me a favor Stephan."

Stephan looked up at the manager, who flipped the screen to another room. There was a giant present, closed up and sitting on some sort of table. The words "Music Box" were by a small green circle in the corner of the tablet screen.

"When night hits and the animatronics' servos unlock I want you to wind up this music box. You can do it remotely from here, just hold down on this little button here." The manager demonstrated by pressing his thumb to the green circle.

That made Stephan a little bit nervous. "What happens if I don't?"

A cloud fell over the manager's face. "It would be very bad. Very, very bad."

The manager left hurriedly after explaining a few more things to Stephan. The clock turned from six-o-clock to eleven-thirty rather quickly. Time flies by fast when you're about to face death. Stephan sat in his office chair; his feet kicked up on the desk and flicking through the cameras aimlessly. Just when he though nothing was going to happen, the clock struck twelve. The lights were out through the entire building, except for his office where an iridescent bulb hung dimly. Apprehension filled him, and Stephan found himself wanting something to happen. He wound the music box up every once in a while, and overall was bored. Freddy and Bonnie were still on the stage where they-

His stomach twisted. Freddy and Bonnie, but no Chica. Where the hell-

A screech filled his ears that sent an involuntary shiver down his spine. "You've got to be kidding me!" Stephan shouted, and reached under the desk groping for the Freddy mask the manager had given him to fool the animatronics. He found it, and threw it on his head. He did it sloppily, and the mask flopped to the side making him look even less convincing then he already did. The eyeholes were much too small, and he couldn't see much other than the dirty brown fabric. He heard loud thunking as something entered the room. And then, to his surprise, a feminine voice spoke.

"R-really?" She said incredulously. "How come every i-idiot that comes in here thinks that mask is going to w-work? I mean, seriously-y kid. You have it on crooked." Her voice would malfunction every now and then, going from its normal tone to extremely deep or in some cases just causing a stutter.

He gulped and reached for his guitar case, not bothering to take off the mask. He felt for the clasps holding it closed, and tried to flip them open. He then said in his best impression of Freddy, "Oh no! Can't you see that's it's me, your old pal Benny?"

"Benny-y? Really? Y-you insult my intelligence."

Damn it. The manager had lied to him, and now he was in trouble. He undid one of the latches, and then reached for the other. It clicked as it unlatched, and Stephan flipped the guitar case open. He grabbed what he thought was the EMP and tossed it over the desk. He heard it activate, but no giant robot clunked to the ground. He cautiously lifted the mask a bit and peeked out. In front of him, the bare floor of the office loomed. Uh oh.

Something hit him from the side, easily picking him off the ground and pinned him up against the wall. He felt cold metal hands grasping his throat, and slowly tightening their grip. He still couldn't see the creature because of that stupid Freddy mask which was completely useless. He shook his head, trying to remove the mask. He felt the pain in his lungs as they screamed for air. A hand moved away from his throat and grabbed the mask from his face. "O-okay, le-let's see what's behind-"

Once the mask was off, Stephan could finally witness his attacker. She was an old looking animatronic that seemed to resemble a chicken. She had a huge beak that was filled with misaligned, blocky teeth and another mouth could be seen in the back of her throat. Her body was ovular and overly bulky along with her arms and legs. Her eyes went wide just as Foxy's had when she saw Stephan. She dropped him to the floor faster than she had grabbed him, and stepped back. She put her hands over her mouth in a gesture of shock.

"O-oh my god! Yo-you can't be… I'm so sorr-sorry!" She said, her stutter getting worse.

Stephan lay on the ground, sputtering. He took in huge gulps of air, trying to fill his lungs back up as quickly as possible. He grabbed the wall with one hand and tried to pull himself up. Chica made a sound of surprise and moved to help him. "You…" Stephan gasped weakly. "Just tried to... kill me…"

Once he was standing, Chica backed away again. "I didn't know wh-who you were!"

Well, there is another point for Jackson's theory. Two of the animatronics seemed to recognize him in some way, which was good evidence in Jackson's favor. But now there was only one more thing he had to do to prove it. Before she could keep apologizing he leaned over and put a hand to her chest. She stopped talking immediately, and went still. Under the synthetic felt and hard metal Stephan could feel what he wished he couldn't; the steady thumping of a heart beating. These were his best friends when he was a kid. That meant he couldn't just kill them, could he?

"By Robert's big freaking chair, you're one of my dead friends." He breathed, taking his hand off Chica. She just stared at him a while, then her head glitched out in a weird way, moving right to left really fast. She stopped and then blinked slowly.

"Yeah… I g-guess I am." She looked down at him. "And you're… you w-were there when we d-died." Then she gave him a confused look. "Robert's big what?"

He ignored her last comment and nodded. And then he walked past her to his desk. He glanced down at his weaponry, and then kicked the lid closed. He wouldn't need it. At least, he hoped. He clicked the music box button on the tablet, refilling the timer. Swiping the tablet from the desk, he gestured to the couch inviting the killer robot to sit with him. They both sat down, and Chica's weight made the old springs creak. There was an awkward silence filling the air until Chica broke it.

"So wh-who are you?" She asked, her head turning to face him.

He gave her a questioning look. "You don't know?"

"I only-only recognize you. I can't re-remember exactly who you are, or anything about y-you."

Weird. "So what do you… remember?" He asked cautiously, not wanting to make her go crazy.

"Well," She said. "I remember a lot of things. Some of them are clear, most are not. Whenever I see something-ing familiar more memories come back. But I can never remember n-names."

"What about the other animatronics? What do they remember?" He asked.

"They remember everything, even better the-then me. But they aren't g-good people, er, animatronics. They don't even try to be. Before they began to remember, the-they were okay and I liked them. But now they're j-just… evil."

Stephan nodded. "Do you want to know my name?"

She seemed to hesitate a bit, and Stephan couldn't blame her. But then the tipped her head a little in an attempted nod. "Yes."

"I'm Stephan Abernathy, hero extraordinaire and professional chef." He wasn't really a chef; he just added that in because just saying "hero extraordinaire" didn't seem good enough.

Her face went blank, and he could almost see the memories flashing across her eyes. Her head glitched a bit, and then she went absolutely still. "Chic-?" He began, but was interrupted when she engulfed him in an embrace spontaneously.

"Stephan! I can't believe it!" She pulled away from him. "What are you doing here?"

At first he was just surprised that her memory had come back in such a rush, but he recovered just as quickly. He almost told her that he came to the job because he needed the cash, but then stopped himself. She wasn't a civilian. Though she was a crazy robot, he reminded himself. "I didn't come here to keep watch over this place. I came to kill you. All of you."

At that, she tried to get up off the couch, but he put a hand on her arm. "But," he said, stopping her. "Knowing that you are not just mindless monsters throws a kink in the monster hunting machine."

She slowly settled back onto the couch. "You ca-came to kill me?

He gave her an apologetic look. "Not you specifically. Mostly, I was hired to figure out who was killing all of the night guards. Plus, you actually tried to kill me, so I think we're even."

Her eyes seemed to fill with guilt. "Stephan, y-you have to know, I haven't killed anyone in a while. It's the other three that a-are the problem. You see, w-when we were stuffed into suits to become…" She gestured to herself. "Well… this, the one which created us put something in our p-program that makes us want to kill. Actually, we have to kill, or we shut down. We call it a craving. But when we fought the Purple Man, he broke me. And now I don't crave blood anymore."

Now they were getting somewhere. "Oh, that's… really gross actually. But you have to remind me, who's the Purple Man again? I seem to be a little behind on my lore."

"The Purple Man was the child-killer who murdered us. But it-it's all good, we ripped his head off. Revenge exacted. That's why we originally chose security guards to kill; the Purple Man was a night-watchman. But the manager stills hires security guards to feed the rest of us."

"That's even better. Do you remember anything about being… uh, murdered?" He wasn't sure if he had the right to ask that, but he did anyway.

She didn't seem to mind. "Yeah, he lured us away with a Golden Freddy suit. Then he put a knife through each of our stomachs. There was a lot of pain, and a lot of blood, then nothing. I woke up later, no memory of anything but the desire to make children happy."

"Boy am I glad I went to get some more pizza instead of hanging out with you guys." Stephan said, winding the music box.

At the mention of pizza, Chica perked up. "Pizza? You know what? You look like you could use some nice, hot, pizza."

"You eat pizza?"

"No, silly. I stopped eating after the cravings went away. But I do cook the pizza!" She got up off the couch. "Be right back!" She stopped in the doorway, and waved at him. He waved back, and she hurried down the hallway towards the kitchen. Stephan shrugged, and went back to flipping through cameras. Nothing, nothing, nothing…

He stopped, his finger in mid click. Freddy and Bonnie 2.0 were off the sage, but Bonnie 2.0 was just walking aimlessly in circles, his face a mask. Freddy on the other hand, seemed to be talking with another animatronic by the way his mouth and hands moved around. The robot he was conversing with was huge. He towered over Freddy and Bonnie 2.0 and was covered with lavender fur. Freddy nodded his head towards the camera, and the mystery animatronic turned around. With a jolt, Stephan realized who it was. He was looking at Old Bonnie, who was supposed to be shut down. Bonnie pointed at his eyes with two fingers, then pointed to the camera.


	3. Chapter 3

"Crap!" Stephan said aloud, and opened his guitar case. He grabbed an EMP and his sword, and waited for Bonnie to come through one of the many entrances. Loud clunking came from his right, and Stephan spun around just as Bonnie came in. The thing as absolutely massive. He was at least eight feet tall, and bulky. His eye-lights blinked off and on, as if he was trying to simulate blinking. The endoskeleton of one of his hands was exposed, and one of his feet as well.

He laughed, and Stephan realized he probably didn't need a face to talk, as long as his voice box was intact. "Step back bunny." He warned the animatronic.

He didn't seem threatened. "Oh ho! You really are a brave one, trying to fight me. What is that? A sword?" He scoffed, and his bottom jaw moved up in down as he laughed.

"Take a close look at my face buddy." He told the animatronic.

His eyes seemed to glow brighter, and then he stepped back a bit. "What in-? Stephan you fool, you should never have come here!"

Stephan grinned. "Nice to see you too, Bonnie."

The monster shook his head. "No! I am not Bonnie!" He pointed to the camera. "That is Bonnie, I am Bonno!"

"What?" Stephan asked. "Why?"

"The 'o' is masculine!" He announced proudly. "No longer will I be tormented and taunted by gender confusion!"

Before Stephan could say anything, Bonno spoke again. "I'm afraid you are in the wrong place at the wrong time my friend! I must destroy the tablet you hold, and free the Marionette from his chains!"

"What's the Marionette?"

"You should remember him well Stephan! He was your favorite when we were kids. He was also the one who saved us from death by stuffing us in the suits!" Bonno exclaimed.

He tried to think back. His favorite animatronic… favorite animatronic… favorite…

Then it clicked. "You mean the Puppet?" The Puppet was a dumb attraction that was shut down because nobody really cared about it, plus the Puppet was kind of creepy. Stephan had always liked him though. But he had never seemed alive, much less a professional necromancer. The Puppet was probably the one locked in the music box, if what Bonno said was any indication.

"Yes! But he is not the Puppet anymore, he is the Marionette. Which name strikes more fear into your heart Stephan? Tell me true!"

He had to admit. "Well Marionette does seem a bit spookier."

"Yes Stephan! You must step aside my comrade, so I can free the Marionette from his cage and put his plans into motion!"

Stephan shook his head. If the Marionette was in the box, it was for good reason. "No Bonno. I'm no normal guardsman, I am a member of the International Defense against the Supernatural, and I can't let you release this thing. Nor can I let you take any more human lives."

Bonno nodded. "I had a feeling you were the hunter they sent, Stephan. You are courageous man, and a warrior, but if you stand against godlike Bonno then you will be eaten as the other guards were!"

A thought struck Stephan's mind. "Yeah, about that. How do you even stay active? You don't have a mouth."

Bonno put a hand to his not-face. "Ah Stephan. You see, it is a horrible event. I shall not go into great detail my friend, but I can tell you this; it involves a blender and a straw." He put his arms into the air dramatically. "Will it blend? Yes!"

Ew. All of a sudden Stephan wished he hadn't asked. "Ooookay." He said, and then thought of another question. "Why was someone hacking into I.N.D.S files?"

"Ah yes, that was Freddy's doing. He wishes to get into the supernatural scene of crime after we free the Marionette. He was looking through your files to see who the best person to talk to was!"

"So Freddy is trying to become a supernatural mobster?" As much as he didn't like it, it was kind of cool.

Bonno shook his head sadly. "Stephan I'm afraid we must get down to business. If you stand to guard that tablet, you shall not see the light of day! But if you put it down, I will spare your life and you may come with me to become one of us. The Marionette will make you any kind of suit you wish, and shower you with gold and the company of beautiful women! You can be a mobster with Freddy and I in our quest for unending riches!"

"Well Bonno, while all that sounds good, it's my duty to protect people from the supernatural. I have to stand and guard it." Just to make his point clear, he pressed "wind" button on the tablet, refilling the music box's timer.

Bonno nodded, unsurprised. "As you will fight for your cause, I will kill you for mine. Prepare yourself Stephan, for the wrath of godlike Bonno!"

When Bonno attacked, Stephan expected him to charge and smash things. But something in Bonno's face clicked, and a small nozzle popped out. A strange hissing sound began, and then Stephan realized what it was just before a stream of orange flames came from the weapon. Stephan dived out of the way, just as the joust of hot fire hit the wall behind him. Stephan tossed the EMP under the desk, and it rolled to Bonno's feet. It exploded, hit Bonno straight on. The flamethrower died down, and his eyes flickered out.

"Gah! My eyes! You use the tools of a trickster, beast-slaying Stephan!" Bonno shouted, blindly flailing his arms around.

"And a freaking flamethrower is any better?" Stephan asked as he came from behind the desk and advanced on Bonno. Unfortunately, the EMP didn't last long. Just as Stephan got in range to lop off his head, Bonno's eyes flickered back to life. He spun to face the hunter, and blocked his sword deftly. "Aha! You did not expect me so soon!"

Stephan tried retreating, but Bonno was much faster than he should've been. That was the problem with supernatural bad guys. They had supernatural powers. Bonno's endoskeleton hand stuck the blade of the sword, swatting it out of Stephan's hands and sending him sprawling with the sheer force of the blow. But Bonno had apparently not known the true material of the blade, and his hand was cut cleanly in two. He roared in anguish, grasping his injured hand.

Stephan scrambled away from the monster, just then noticing the tablet was gone. He had probably dropped it somewhere, but he couldn't worry about too much. The hunter had bigger problems. Stephan stood up and went for his sword, but Bonno charged him, full bore. Stephan ducked out of the way, but Bonno grabbed his jacket and tossed him across the room with little effort. Stephan felt weightless for the few seconds it took him to reach the other side. He hit the ground hard, and pain shot up through his body. He struggled to get up, and Bonno moved towards him. "Ah Stephan, my friend. You fought well, and now you shall make a wonderful smoothie!"

The fire from Bonno's flamethrower hadn't caused a major problem, as it had hit the concrete of the back wall and left nothing more than a scorch mark. But now Bonno started up the weapon again, and Stephan knew he wouldn't be as lucky as the wall had been. But Bonno had given Stephan an idea by bringing up smoothies. Bonno obviously couldn't eat solid foods, but he still had a hole going to his throat. And Stephan had always been pretty good at pinball. And throwing knives.

Stephan grabbed his cellphone from his pocket, and chucked it at Bonno's face. It hit smack dab in the middle of his head, and Stephan heard a satisfying clunk as the phone fell down his esophagus. Or what was probably an esophagus. The hissing of the flamethrower sputtered and died just as the flames began to seep out. Bonno clutched his throat, and fell to his knees. He coughed and wheezed, obviously choking on the cellphone. Stephan dashed behind the desk for cover, just in case the flamethrower still worked. And it did. Bonno's head spun to face Stephan and a burst of flame hit the desk. The desk began burning immediately, but Stephan was already gone. He ran behind Bonno to his sword and grabbed it. Bonno stumbled to his feet, his head gltiching like Chica's. The flamethrower died off and began hissing as it created more flame to shoot. Bonno turned to face Stephan just as the hunter was rushing to meet him. The silver sword plunged into where Bonno's heart should be, the silver easily going through the supernatural monster. Stephan watched as Bonno slumped onto his sword, black blood leaking from his wound. Bonno looked up at him.

"Good…one…" He said weakly. And then, on Stephan's sword, godlike Bonno died.

He slid the sword from Bonno's chest, and felt moisture form in his eyes. "You fought well. Goodbye, my friend."

He heard the crackling of fire as the flames consumed the desk behind him. He took the fire extinguisher hanging up in the hallway and quickly put the fire out. The white foam consumed the flames just as the flame had consumed everything around it. Stephan sighed and dropped the fire extinguisher by the desk. Something caught his eye, and in horror, he dropped to his knees. Under the burnt remnants of the desk and floor, was a melted piece of plastic. "The tablet." He whispered, staring at the molten plastic in shock. He must have dropped it when he left the desk. There was no way to keep the chains on the Marionette any longer. Bonno may have died, but he did what he came to do.

Ever on time, Chica came through the doorway. In her hand she held a pizza tray, with a fresh pepperoni pizza on top. She looked around the room, saw Bonno's body, and frowned as best her beak allowed her. "I see you were busy."

"Yep. Though he did attack me." Stephan said, getting up and brushing himself off. "Now, about that pizza."

She shrugged and sat on the couch. He went over and sat next to her, and he ate pizza in silence as the last of Bonno's unnatural lifeblood leaked out. As he was eating, a cheerful ringing started coming from Bonno. Stephan recognized it as his alarm. "It must be six." He said, and then looked towards Chica. She was frozen in place, but her eyes looked towards him. She seemed to smile, without moving her mouth.

"I l-lost track of time, dang it. Looks like I'm l-locked up." She said apologetically.

"I can try to move you to the stage." He offered.

"Nah, you're g-good. Someone will come along and move me when I don't show up. Now run along Stephan, the manager doesn't like it when the night guard stays longer than his shift." She said playfully. "He could eat you."

Stephan smiled and walked out of the office, a slice of pizza in one hand, his guitar case in the other. He walked past the stage where Freddy was posing with Bonnie 2.0. He saluted Freddy casually. "Bonno's gonna' be a little late Fred." He told the animatronic. When Freddy talked back Stephan wasn't surprised.

"Bloody 'ell Stephan." Freddy said. He slowly reached up against his servos' will and tipped his small top hat to Stephan. Stephan laughed, mostly because the bear spoke in a British accent. Stephan walked out the doors of Freddy's and prepared to go back to his hotel room for some well-earned sleep. He would worry about the Marionette tomorrow, plus the animatronics' servos were locked up in day-time so he had nothing to worry about.

Chica sat on the couch, surveying the trashed office. Stephan had really done a number on the place in his fight his Bonnie, er… Bonno. She looked at the tray of pizza her childhood friend had mostly devoured, with only a slice remaining. She wondered when the staff would be coming in to get her. The manager would be upset at finding her on the couch instead of on the stage, and perhaps by Bonnie's death. She was conflicted on that herself. She couldn't remember which of the kids Bonnie had originally been, but she felt bad that that kid died here today as well. Again.

After a few more minutes passed she began to be worried. Where were the staff? Then she heard the movement of pistons as something approached the office. That didn't make any sense, nobody should be active during the day. Two bare endoskeletons walked through the left doorway, their too-large eyes landing immediately on her. Her own eyes widened as they moved towards her, their legs going up much too high each time they took a step, making them look stupid. They grabbed her by the arms and hauled her to her feet. This couldn't be happening, endoskeletons couldn't just walk around, especially during the day.

Two more figures entered the office, and fear ran through every part of her body. She had to run, but no matter how hard she tried she was locked in place. The first figure was pink and white, or at least, some of it was pink and white. The Mangle had always been the most horrifying animatronic in her opinion, but now it walked upright, its twisted body somehow supporting it. Tubes ran along its broken endoskeleton frame, black blood running through them. Barbed wire surrounded Mangle's arms, and pooled around its feet. One of its eyes was missing from its socket, but another eye had been attached to an extra set of jaws coming from a long arm off its back. The plastic of Mangles head, hand, and foot had been replaced by metal, and blood stained its knife-like teeth and muzzle. It spoke in a honey-sweet voice that was obviously female.

"Hello there honey. Are you scared? I won't hurt you." The Mangle said, limping over to stand in front of Chica. She leaned over and her neck extended to put her head right in front of Chica's. That was when Chica noticed Mangle had a third armed attached recently, and the clawed hand at the end of that arm was also covered in blood. Mangle put a claw under Chica's chin and lifted her head up to look straight into the beast's eyes. The Mangle opened her mouth, and that was when Chica could see what was used to bind her soul to the new body. A long tongue could be seen in Mangle's mouth, and it wasn't mechanical. Her breath smelled heavily of death and blood, but Chica didn't react. She couldn't react, actually.

The second figure that walked in had to stoop over to enter the room. He wore a white mask with purple stripes going from his eyes to his constantly upturned mouth. Said eyes and mouth were completely black, and two rosy cheeks were painted on to try and make him look less scary for the kids. His thin body, arms, and legs were and black except for the white stripes on his arms and buttons on his chest. There were strings attached to his body, like any good puppet would. There were five in total; two for each of his arms, two on his legs, and one attached directly to his head. Right now, they all hung loosely. When he approached Chica, Mangle quickly shambled out of the way. The Marionette stopped in front of Chica and shook his head.

"Oh my child, what have you done?" He said sadly, his voice smooth and soothing.

She said nothing, and pretended to be calm even though her heart pounded.

"You let a guard come in here, let him live, and served him pizza no less. He kills our good friend Bonnie, and what do you do? Nothing." He let out a disappointed sigh. "And Chica, you should have told me to Purple Man broke you. You know how much I care, I would have had you fixed right up."

"I'm not broken," She said quietly. "Being a bloodthirsty monster is broken."

"Chica my dear, you don't get it. I created you so you could help me kill people. You can't do that if you don't have that extra drive to kill people. It's as simple as that." He made a wide gesture towards Mangle. "My sweet toy fox over here on the other hand, has done nothing other than help me since she was brought into life." The Mangle licked her lips hungrily.

Chica would have spat on the Marionette if she could. "You're insane, Puppet. You are killing these people for no reason other than you want to!"

He put a slender finger to her beak. "Shh. I'm not killing anyone. I made you to do that, remember?" He removed his finger from her beak slowly. "I thought that killing the Purple Man, the one who killed all of us," He glanced back at Mangle. "Aside from Mangle of course. Anyway, the Purple Man killed us and I swore revenge. My death drove my poor, poor mother to insanity and of course, killed me. Now, I made you four so I could achieve my revenge. It was poetic; the murderer being killed by the ones who he had in fact killed. But then, another child was killed after his death. And that was when I realized that the Purple Man wasn't the only one. But someone locked me in that box before I could get my monsters to kill everyone in this city, aside from children of course. You see, my plan was to kill the adults of the population aside from a select few, then raise their children to be better than them. I will mold the entire human race to become greater than they were, starting here."

"You think that killing the adults and stealing their children is the way to achieve a perfect world?" Chica asked incredulously.

The Marionette nodded. "When you put it like that, it sounds a bit harsh, but yes. There will be no more laws broken, ever. And if someone does, I will kill them." He paused and put a finger to his chin. "Hmm. Though, there is the problem of keeping my army of animatronic enforcers fed. Oh well."

"What are we going to do with Chica, M'Lord?" Mangle spoke up.

"Well, my sick and twisted friend, she has betrayed me. So…" The Marionette seemed to ponder for a bit. Chica decided to throw all her obligations against showing fear out the window.

"Please Marionette! I'll get fixed! I-"

The Marionette laughed. "Oh no Chica. You won't be fixed. You shall be punished." His voice deepened a little. "Severely."

The Mangle broke out into a maddened laughter, and Chica saw one of the strings on the puppet rise up like a snake, and then come down on her. She felt it pierce through her costume and into her endoskeleton. She could feel the Marionette literally grabbing her soul.

"Kill her." The Marionette said, and Chica closed her eyes.


	4. Chapter 4

Stephan's alarm went off, and he reluctantly got up to turn it off. At first he didn't remember where he was, then he remembered. Hotel room. Job at Freddy's. And according to his clock it was time for work. He took a quick shower, then put on his clothes and favorite leather jacket. He walked out of the hotel room and down out of the lobby. He jumped in the car Robert had arranged for him to drive while he was on the mission and drove to Freddy's. The sky was dark by the time he got there, and he hopped out of his car quickly. He was almost late for work.

The manager was just coming from the restaurant when Stephan was entering. The man stopped Stephan by putting his hand on his arm. Stephan turned to face him, and the manager smiled. "Thanks for getting rid of those things. But try to get Freddy and Foxy tonight will ya'?"

Those things. Those. Multiple things. "What do you mean those? Which ones?"

The manager gave him a weird look. "Bonnie and Chica. Oh and, Stephan, you should know we found three janitors dead this morning, so I think one of their daytime locks is malfunctioning. And oddly enough one woman's tongue was ripped out, and a lot of her blood was missing. The other two were just torn apart by sharp claws. Be careful, will ya'?"

Stephan wasn't really listening past the part of 'Bonnie and Chica'. Chica had been fine when he left, what had happened? He rushed into the building, past the stage, and into his office. And he froze when he saw her. Chica was lying motionless by Bonnie. Or at least most of her anyway. Her heart was gone, and the top of her head had been torn off. He collapsed next to her body, and began to weep. The Marionette had escaped. That was the only explanation on who could have killed his friend. After a while, the tears stopped coming, and he stood back up, wiping his face with his sleeve. He saw that the phone had been taken from Bonno's body and set by Chica. He picked it up. Three missed calls from Jackson. Whoops.

He put the phone in his pocket, and set down his guitar case. He opened it and pulled his sword from the case. There were no more EMPs, so his only weapon was the sword. He walked out of the office and down to the main room. He was going to kill the Marionette and end this.

When he arrived at the stage, Freddy was nowhere to be seen. Which probably meant he was waiting in ambush. And then he heard someone British from behind him, confirming his theory. "Hello Stephan, fancy meetin' you here."

Stephan spun around to find Freddy standing there, across a few tables from him. The bear walked from the shadows he hid in, and Stephan could see he was armed. In his hands he held an assault rifle. He lifted it up to show Stephan. "You like my new toy?" He grinned. "I know I do."

Stephan laughed at him. "Come and get me, Freddy Fatbear."

Freddy aimed the gun and opened fire on Stephan. Luckily, the animatronic wasn't the best shot. The bullets sprayed around, and Stephan dived to the floor. He tried to cover his head as the bullets slammed into tables and walls, sending them to pieces. Freddy moved over in front of the stage so he could get a clear shot at Stephan, but never stopped firing during that time. He fired again, but Stephan anticipated it and rolled under another table. A bullet grazed his arm, causing a steady flow of blood to come from the wound. Freddy pulled another clip from a belt around his waist, and reloaded the gun. He would have kept firing if not for a shadow that moved from the closed curtains of the Pirate's Cove. Freddy turned towards it and began firing. Every one of the bullets swerved away from their target. The bullets couldn't touch the pirate, and Freddy frantically turned to run. But for that effort, he got a curved sword through his spine. Freddy made an odd gurgling sound, and he fell to the floor, lifeless. Foxy hopped off the stage and pulled his sword from Freddy's body and walked towards Stephan slowly.

Stephan grabbed his sword and came out from under table. "Are you going to attack me?" He asked the fox.

Foxy shook his head. "Nay, I'm on your side matey."

Stephan walked over to the pirate cautiously. "So you're not going to try and eat me?"

Again Foxy shook his head. "When Chica was hit by t' Purple Man, I figured out which area it was that he broke. So then after he was dead, I broke me own cravin."

Stephan's phone rang before he could say anything more. He answered it. "Hello?"

A voice came over the speaker. "Hey, Stephan! It's Jackson. You haven't answered your phone in a while so I was worried."

"It's a long story. Listen Jackson-"

"Oh, by the way Sarah's on her way there. She and her squad are on an unauthorized quest to help you out."

His eyes widened in horror, and Fox gave him a questioning look. "Jackson, tell her to head back. You were right, they are reanimated corpses killing people. There is a really bad one-"

"I was right! Awesome!" He paused and then came back. "Stephan, listen. I gotta' head out and you're breaking up. Tell Sarah I was right for me!" And with that, Jackson hung up.

Stephan lowered the phone slowly. "Foxy," He said. "We have a problem."

Chica awoke in a room she had never seen before. It was well lit, and had a window. She could see it was night, and her servos were unlocked. She got up carefully. Her head was pounding, and the inside of her throat felt like it was being stabbed by thousands of needles. She moved very slowly, exploring the room. Then she stopped. She shouldn't be moving. She was dead. The endoskeletons had torn off her head. There was a mirror on the wall in the room and that's all there was. Maybe she was dead. Perhaps, this was the afterlife. She walked towards the mirror to see what it was about. When she came in front of it, she froze. She looked different. Not completely different, but different all the same. For starters she had no beak. Or eyes, for that matter. Her head had some stray feathers on top that had been styled so that they looked sort of like hair. Her body was much thinner, and made her gender obvious from the feminine curves. Her hands ended in sharp claws, just like Mangle's, and her feet were looked like a predator's talons. She opened her mouth, and realized that is was full of small, sharp teeth. A piece of pink cloth which looked like underwear covered her lower body. Her bib that had said "LET'S EAT!" replaced by one that said "LET'S PARTY!" She frowned at that. She had liked the original one better.

And then she realized that she had frowned. She could make facial movements. Realizing that, she spent the next half hour making odd faces in the mirror. She laughed out loud at herself, and found her voice to be similar to Mangle's but a little lower.

"You know Chica, when I first saw you I forgot where I was. I mean, come on people, it's a children's establishment." Said a polished voice from behind her.

She spun around, her teeth bared. The Marionette sat in a chair, his legs crossed and his hands folded neatly in his lap. How he had gotten there, she had no idea.

"Marionette." She growled.

The Marionette mimicked her in a mocking growl. "Chica." Then he snickered.

"Looks like you failed in your attempt to kill me." She noted, gesturing to herself.

"Actually Chica, I never said I wanted to kill you permanently." The Marionette countered. "I just said I was going to punish you for betraying me."

She raised an eyebrow quizzically. "And how did you succeed in doing that? You just gave me a newer body."

The Marionette's smile seemed to widen. "Ah, dearest you must realize what a new body means. Don't you have pains in your throat and head? As if you were sick, but wait…." He cocked his head. "I know you haven't felt it in a while but… wow. You need to have your memory looked at, my scantily dressed friend. "

The cravings. That was her punishment for not killing Stephan. She screamed, and lunged at the Marionette. She hit nothing but empty air.

"You know, for a psychotic killing machine, you aren't that great at it. But you're just bit rusty I suppose. Lucky for you, an excellent practice opportunity has arisen." The wall in front of her disappeared. It had been an illusion. "And you're going have to do double to work tonight my little monster. Cause' I think Freddy's dead."

Then he was gone. He was an illusion too. She screamed again, until she realized she must have sounded horrifying. But then again, she was horrifying. This was the closest she had come to looking human since she was killed. But it was the least human she had felt in a while. All of sudden, voices filled her ears. Or whatever she had replacing ears.

"Careful with that! You'll cut yourself!" A man said.

"Nah man," Another said. "I'm too good at knife twirling."

"Both of you shut up!" A woman whispered harshly. "We have to be quite. All sort of monsters could be lurking."

_She means you_.

"Dude you should-" The first man exclaimed.

"Ow!" The second one said, and she heard metal hitting the ground. Then the scent of blood filled her nose.

"Told you!"

_Kill them_.

Chica shook her head, trying to clear it. This was what the Marionette wanted.

"The rest of the squad will be meeting us here in a bit. Stay alert." The woman was saying. She sounded young.

_That means tasty_.

Then the three of them came into her view. They all held shining swords except for the knife-twirler who as holding his hand, trying to wipe off the blood.

_Kill them_. The monster in her told her.

_Kill them_.

_KILL THEM_.

"Okay!" She said aloud to herself. This wasn't her fault. It was on the Marionette's hands, not hers.

Just as they were about to escape her vision, she screeched as loud as she could, and ran at the group of hunters. She barreled into one, using her claws to kill him swiftly. Then she turned to the other man, the cautious one. He swung his sword down on her arm, hard. It hurt, but it didn't even leave a scratch. He looked dumbfounded.

"But. What. Huh?" He said, and then Chica broke his neck. She looked at the last hunter, the woman. She looked terrified. But she still spoke.

"You have no eyes." She observed. "That's gotta' be a bummer."

Chica's heart was beating fast in her chest, and her bloodlust was so strong she barely understood the hunter's words. So she lunged forward, jumping farther in one leap then she had ever done in her life. Chica barreled into the huntress, slamming her into the ground. She pinned the human down, and grabbed her head with her hand, exposing her throat. Chica opened her mouth, ready to bite down.

"Wait! Wait!" The huntress screamed.

Chica held back for a second, pausing mid-bite. She didn't want to wait, but for some reason she did.

"Killing people is against the rules." The huntress said feebly.

Chica cocked her head.

The huntress looked panicked now. "You know, there are rules in the restaurant that the animatronics have to follow. I read them all, and _you _are breaking pretty much all of them right now."

Chica thought she remembered those rules. She searched through her databanks, not releasing her grip on the huntress, who was trembling under her hands.

Hope entered the woman's gaze. "You can't kill me, right? Your programming prevents you from doing it." She let out a sound of triumph. "That's right you creepy, ugly, freak! Take-"

Chica finished her search. The Marionette had failed to do any programming in her new body whatsoever. There were no rules. She smiled, and bit down on the huntress's neck.

When she had finished her meal, and the cravings had gone, it was only then that she realized what she had done. She had killed. Even when she was in her old body, she had never killed. The few times she had eaten before the Purple Man shut off the cravings, she had only taken Bonnie's scraps. Now she was covered in blood, and surrounded by bodies. She looked at her hands, at the sharp talons, and realized that the blood was not on the Marionette's hands.

It was on hers.

* * *

><p><strong> Hey everyone. Thanks for reading the story, and for leaving reviews (positive or otherwise). I have the rest of the story half-written, and I'm just going over it now so the next few chapters will trickle out over time. Also don't forget to mourn the passing of godlike Bonno. I mean, what a great guy. -Skellie <strong>


	5. Chapter 5

When Stephan heard the screech, he automatically thought it was some animatronic he had never seen, or perhaps that Mangle creature Foxy had been telling him about. But it wasn't the monster he was truly troubled about, he became worried when human screams followed the creature's cry.

"I see yer fellow humans have arrived, matey!" Foxy said, and Stephan nodded.

He ran forward, and Foxy ran behind him, sword brandished. Stephan ran as fast as he could, expelling every bit of energy he had. He couldn't let Sarah be killed just because she was trying to give him unnecessary help. She had always been the type of person to not let an important task be done by anyone other than her because she couldn't trust in the skill of anyone else. But she was usually a good person aside from that and she didn't deserve what one of these bloodthirsty monsters would do to her if she got caught.

They ran through the restaurant, and Stephan wondered how he hadn't noticed how freaking big the place was until then. Finally they came to the front hallway, and Stephan froze. The entire place was drenched in blood, and Stephan could see the remains of three people which had been ravaged mostly beyond recognition. But he recognized one of them. Sarah was dead, her throat completely torn out. He didn't know the other two, or just couldn't identify them past all the gore. But what shocked him the most was the animatronic that had killed them. It was Chica. Well, it wasn't truly Chica. This animatronic's gender was much more defined, and she was missing her eyes and beak which made her creepier but also gave her a more human-like appearance. This must have been the "scrapped" Chica 2.0. He _really _needed to have a chat with that lying manager some time. It bothered him, seeing his twice-dead friend again, yet not seeing her. This thing covered in human blood couldn't truly be the kind girl Stephan had known. He began to pull his sword from its scabbard, to kill the Marionette's newest minion.

But he stopped in his tracks when she looked up at him, and gave him a look of pure anguish. "Stephan… I… I'm so sorry." She said, holding her blood soaked hands out in front of herself as if they were diseased.

Chica was alive. He knew, when she looked at him, that it was the same Chica and not just a replacement. "Chica?" He said her name softly, not loud enough for her to hear.

Apparently her hearing was better than he expected. She nodded in affirmation and slowly stood up. He began to walk towards her unconsciously but he was stopped by Foxy's arm.

"Careful thar, lad. You don't know if she's finished yet. You could easily be next on t' menu."

He knew the pirate was right, but he didn't want to think that his friend would tear him apart. "You killed them?" He half-hoped she would deny it.

She nodded slowly, blood still dripping from her teeth and mouth. "Yes, but I didn't want to… I gave in to the cravings." She said, and began to walk towards them, her talons clicking on the slick floor.

Foxy asked softly. "Are you okay now lass?" He still stood in front of Stephan protectively, which hurt the hunter's pride a little.

"Yeah, I think so." She said, stopping a good ten feet away from them. Stephan noticed her voice no longer glitched out randomly.

Foxy removed his arm, and Stephan cautiously moved closer to Chica not wanting to get a nasty surprise in the form of a hungry, eyeless chicken. She started to go forwards a bit, but then rushed at him faster than he could react. He tried drawing his sword but Chica engulfed him in a hug. Surprised, it took him a second to return the embrace. She began making choking sounds, which he realized after a moment were sobs.

"Oh, Stephan!" She cried. "I don't want to be like this anymore."

He held her tighter in an attempt to comfort her. "I know," He said lamely. "I know."

The Marionette strolled through the darkened hallways, Mangle by his side. If he wasn't already smiling, he would have done so when he heard Chica tearing into those hunters. Everything that had happened had been according to plan, except for Bonnie and Freddy being killed. Though they were easily replaceable as he had already shown by creating the Mangle in Bonnie's stead. Foxy might be a problem, but he was a generation one animatronic, and no match for the Mangle. It wasn't great that Stephan was still alive, but that could be remedied easily. And then a genius thought struck him, so filled with poetic irony that is hurt. He could make an animatronic out of Stephan. The hunter was so intent on saving human lives, it would be fitting that he took part in slaughtering the city.

"You know Mangle, I'm a genius." He said to the abomination beside him.

"Yes M'Lord." She said automatically, not even paying much attention to him. He shook his head. You just couldn't find anyone that appreciated genius nowadays. And then a thought struck him… if she wasn't paying any attention…

"Mangle," He began, a mischievous edge to his voice. "Are you a lonely, sad, ugly, horrible mistake that was created on the night I had little too much to drink?"

"Yes M'Lord." Mangle said again, still paying absolutely no attention to him.

He felt as if he could giggle with glee. Not only was he insulting someone, they were agreeing with him. Without knowing it of course, but it still held a great amount of satisfaction.

"Mangle, are you stupid?"

"Yes M'Lord."

He would have done more, and oh how he wanted to, but he called himself back to attention with a thought of his genius plan. So he went straight to it.

"Mangle, I want you to fetch the endoskeletons." That caught her attention.

She gave him the grin of a maniac. "And what shall I do with them?"

"Bring me Stephan, the hunter. Alive, and preferably in one piece." He said, and her only working ear flattened to her head.

"Alive? In one piece? You know that's not what I like to hear." The Mangle pouted, but she loped off down the hall to get the endoskeletons. Perhaps he should just employ more of the lifeless endoskeletons. They were a pain to use, not being alive and all. But they were also simpler. And sometimes, simple was good.

Stephan waited outside the women's restroom with Foxy, as Chica washed the blood off her hands and face. So far it had taken longer than he thought it would, and Foxy was never that great a conversationalist. It wasn't that he didn't talk, it was that he had nothing important to say.

"You know lad, thar was one time in 1895, when I-" Foxy was saying.

Fortunately for Stephan his phone rang. "I have to take this." He apologized quickly to Foxy, then answered it.

"Hey Stephan! It's Jackson again. Has Sarah arrived yet, because she's not answering her phone. Oh, I wish I could have seen the look on her face when she found out I was right!"

Stephan couldn't say anything, and his voice caught whenever he tried to speak. He didn't want to tell Jackson that Sarah was dead. They had been really close, and usually a commanding officer would tell the friends and family of the deceased person. But right now, he was all that was available.

"Stephan? Hey, Stephan you're kind of freakin' me out here." Jackson was saying, concern in his voice.

Stephan cleared his throat. "Hey Jackson, dude, you might want to sit down."

Silence from the other end.

Stephan continued. "Uh, Sarah didn't make it man. I'm sorry."

Jackson was silent for another second. "So she's dead."

"Yeah. She's dead."

"Well I'm coming over there. You could use my skills in putting those animals down. For good this time." And then Jackson hung up.

Stephan sighed and dropped the phone back in his pocket, defeated. Foxy gave him a sympathetic look. When Stephan turned around, he saw Chica standing in front of the bathroom door, her eyes wide and he body trembling.

"Was that… the family of the girl I killed?" She asked, her voice shaking.

"No," He said. "It was just one of her friends, Jackson. We call the family only after the mission is over. We don't like to tell the family of a deceased hunter their family-member is dead after a failed mission for obvious reasons."

Chica nodded and then walked away from him and stood in the hallway alone. Foxy grimaced and then walked over to her, and began talking softly.

Stephan just stood there, feeling useless. He shook his head and walked down the hallway a bit. He stopped when he saw an endoskeleton standing in the hallway, blocking him from going any farther. It began to advance, lifting its legs up like it belonged in a marching band. He backed away from it, and was about call out when a twisted figure tackled him from the shadows of the hallway. It looked sort of like a Frankenstein fox, with all sorts of pieces strewn together in a tangle of limbs. An extra mouth on the end of a tendril-like appendage bit into his arm, and he screamed. He heard Foxy and Chica rush to aid him, but the Mangle was much too fast for what it was. It zipped from atop him literally bouncing off the walls, and looking sort of like a squid in the way it moved. Foxy tried taking on the creature first, but was unsuccessful. The barbed wire attached to the Mangle's arms wrapped around Foxy, immobilizing him. Then it shoved a claw into his stomach. His eyes went wide with shock and pain. Chica screamed in anger, then hit the Mangle in the head with a spinning kick. The twisted horror slammed into the wall, one of her many metal spines snapping. Chica's talon was wrapped around Mangle's head, holding it up against the wall. With one clawed hand she tore Mangle's eye out of its socket. The Mangle screamed, and threw Chica off of her in rage. She stuck her barbed wire in the ceiling, and began to move back towards Stephan like a monkey swinging on vines.

"Grab him!" The Mangle screamed, her voicing betraying her gender. The signature black blood of undead ran down her face from her eye socket, and the endoskeletons obeyed her. The grabbed him by the arms, and the last he remembered was Chica running at his captors in an attempt to save him, and then all went black.

Chica stood amongst the broken endoskeletons, panting, looking for more things to kill. She might have easily dispatched these two endoskeletons, but the Mangle and the other two endoskeletons had escaped because of the ones that had come from behind. Foxy was sitting up against the wall, moaning in pain. His costume was even more torn from Mangle's barbed wire, and the hole in his stomach wasn't looking good. She forced herself to calm down so she could look at his wounds. She took a few deep breaths, and knelt down by the fox. She knew that he had once been her brother, but she couldn't really remember him as anything other than oldest of the animatronics and a mentor to the others.

He gave her a pained grin. "Aye lass, I be too old for this kind o' thin."

She tried to smile back. "No, Foxy. It doesn't look that bad, really. We can fix you right up."

He shook his head and looked up at her with sadness in his eyes. "You have t' go and help him lass. They be goin' use him t' replace Freddy as t' Marionette's fifth animatronic."

"But what about you?" She asked. She wanted to help Stephan, but she couldn't just leave the old Fox to die.

He laughed weakly. "No lassie. I'll die here, no matter what you do. You have t' try and save your bucko from an eternity o' this."

Her bucko? What did that even mean? Despite herself, she smiled. She looked at Foxy one last time, and he nodded towards where Stephan had been taken. He gave her a sad smile as she got up and ran to find and rescue Stephan.


	6. Chapter 6

Stephan woke up on a table in a strange room. There was lots of dangerous looking equipment that almost seemed to be used for surgery. He tried to sit up, but found he was tied down. He struggled against his bonds for a bit, and then gave up. A sound to his right caused his head to turn. The Mangle sat on another table similar to his, and the Marionette stood in front of her, screwing another eye back into her socket.

"Now you must remember this is that last eye I have in stock, so be careful to not have it ripped out, right?" The Marionette said, backing away from his handiwork. The Mangle's eye flicked around, and then landed on Stephan.

"He's awake!" She said excitedly.

The Marionette turned around, his grin ever present. "Ah Stephan, I'm glad you have at last awoken. I wanted to ask you, which color metal do you prefer, grey or dark grey?"

Stephan scoffed. "I think I prefer my skin, thanks."

"That's not an option Stephan. But, I do think we might have some black metal in the back you could have. Then we could match."

"Marionette, I don't want to be your robot buddy." He said hotly. "Let me go, and you won't get hurt." He didn't know what he would hurt the Marionette with, but he still offered the threat.

The Marionette burst of laughing. "Oh Stephan. You and I shall have such great times together. You shall kill some people, I shall laugh. You will kill again and I will remain in such a merry mood." He wiped a false tear from his face. "It will be a riot I tell you, a riot."

"You don't even have a suit to put me in." Stephan pointed out.

"I don't need a suit to make you a monster, the suits were just ironic. Hell, I could just kill you and bring you back to life if I wanted to. But it's those superhuman senses, strength, and speed that make robots so appealing. I just love technology. It makes working with magic so much easier." The Marionette said.

He couldn't really think of anything to say to that. So he ended up going with, "I'll make a bad monster Marionette, trust me. I mean, I'm too stringy."

The Marionette raised an eyebrow. "Usually 'I'm too stringy' would be reserved for those about to eat you. But it's a good try."

Stephan glared at the tall puppet. "I can't believe you were my favorite."

He shrugged. "Me neither. I was quite the bore." Then he walked over to a pile of parts and pulled out a long, black, clawed animatronic arm and walked back to the immobilized Stephan. A random endoskeleton walked over to the Marionette with a giant cleaver when the puppet-master had asked for it. The Marionette grabbed it deftly, and made a few practice chops at Stephan's arm getting a feel for it. Stephan gulped.

"Marionette, you seem like a civilized person. I think we can talk-" Stephan said hurriedly.

An endoskeleton injected him with some kind of sedative, and a slowly fell back into darkness.

The Marionette was just about to sever Stephan's arm when a loud crash from outside caught the Marionette's attention. Annoyed, he said to Mangle. "Go see what that's all about. It better not be the endoskeletons doing their drinking games again. I will kill them if they are."

The Mangle sighed and exited the room reluctantly, shuffling her feet.

Chica had stormed the Marionette's hideout, tearing apart the three endoskeletons guarding the entrance easily. She was going to save Stephan and avenge Foxy, and there wasn't an animatronic there that could stop her. Until the Mangle walked out from the room that Marionette had taken Stephan. The Mangle's eye had been replaced, and it narrowed when she saw Chica. The door she had just came out of clicked shut, and the Mangle started moving at a speed only she could. Chica hit the creature head on, and they both hit the ground hard. Chica tore at the mass of limbs with her claws, hitting a tube full of blood and severing it. The Mangle retreated from the wrestling match, holding a hand over the burst tube. She roared at Chica, and Chica did her signature scream in response. They ran at each other and clashed again, each animatronic trying to find a place they could score an easy kill on the other. Two more endoskeletons emerged from the room, and upon seeing the fight, happily joined. Chica kicked Mangle across the hall, then grabbed an offending endoskeleton by the head a tore it off. She threw the sparking head at Mangle, but missed because of how fast the monster moved. She bounced from wall to wall, then all of a sudden she was gone. Chica realized only too late she had activated her barbed wire and moved across the ceiling and was now-

Her thoughts were interrupted by Mangle's barbed wire wrapping around her legs and bringing her down. She flipped over on her back, and tried pulling out the barbs, but Mangle was just as strong as her, if not stronger. While Mangle held her in place the second endoskeleton moved to avenge its comrades. Just as Chica thought she had failed in her assault of the Marionette, the endoskeleton stopped, sparked, and then burst in to flames. Its burning frame collapsed to the floor, causing the Mangle to roar in anger. But her roar soon turned into screams, and the barbed wire retracted from Chica's legs. The Mangle was still screaming, and Chica got up, turning to face whoever had saved her.

A man stood in front of her, a staff in his hands. Its many carved runes glowed with purple energy, and he looked angry. He pointed his staff at her, and then demanded, "Where's Stephan?"

This must have been one of Stephan's friends. She pointed to the door the Marionette now resided in, and said. "I'm Chica, one of Stephan's… allies."

He didn't seem surprised Stephan had befriended a robot. "I'm Jackson, also one of Stephan's allies. I wish we could have met under better circumstances, but we should get going. I have some robots to smash and friends to avenge."

Jackson. This was the guy who was "really close" with Sarah. Guilt crept up her spine, or whatever system of nerves that replaced it. She hoped he didn't figure out what she did to her, because Jackson looked like he was quite powerful.

She gave him her best smile, but she probably shouldn't have. You know, because of her fangs and all. "So, what did you do to them?" She asked.

He grinned. "I'm glad you asked. You see, I just cast a simple 'Immolation' spell on that weirdo robot marching band wannabe over there, and a new spell I call 'Mind Wrack' on the ugly fox."

Mind Wrack? What kind of name was that?

As if he had read her thoughts, he frowned. "Hey, the name is work-in-progress so don't say anything."

She didn't. It looked effective enough, despite the name.

Jackson came over to Chica and surveyed the mumbling Mangle. It was a while before he spoke again. When he did, his voice was choked. "Which one of you killed Sarah?" His question was direct, and without threat, but it made Chica nervous.

You could just kill him.

It was the simplest solution, she could tear off his head while he wasn't paying attention, eliminating a possible threat and-

She realized that she had stepped closer to Jackson, who was poking Mangle with his finger curiously. Horrified, she backed away, not trusting herself being so close to living people. Warm, juicy, delicious people.

Perhaps just a taste.

She hit herself in the side of the head with the palm of her hand, causing a ringing sound to reverberate inside her head. Jackson looked back at her inquiringly but said nothing about it. He just repeated his question. "Do you know what killed her?"

Chica swallowed, and then lied. "It was Bonnie. But he's dead now, Stephan killed him."

Jackson seemed satisfied with that, and jerked his thumb towards the door. "Shall we rescue our mutual friend from certain destruction? Well, that's what that dying Fox thing told me was happening anyway. You know, he was an odd fellow."

She smiled at the thought of her old mentor, and nodded simply, not trusting herself to speak. She followed Jackson towards the door, stepping over the incapacitated Mangle on the way. She thought about killing her, but then felt an odd sense of pity for the terrifying creature and ignored her. She still gave Jackson a wide berth, because even though she liked the guy well enough, she had an urge to tear him apart. They reached the door, and Jackson counted to three on his fingers silently. On three, Chica smashed in the door in easily, opening the room for her to view. The Marionette stood in the middle of the room by a table. He sat back and watched as three endoskeletons preformed some kind of surgery. But it was Stephan lying on that table, and it was Stephan who was being operated on. The Marionette noticed them, and shouted to two more endoskeletons playing poker at a small table. They stood up in sync and headed towards Chica and her newfound ally. All she had to do was take a look at Stephan on the table, and what they were doing to him, and her bloodlust reached a peak. She screeched, causing both Jackson and the Marionette to wince. She lunged at one endoskeleton, knocking it to the ground and tearing pieces off and throwing them wildly. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Jackson turn another endoskeleton in kindling. He shot some kind of energy bolt at the Marionette, but the puppet only put out a hand and stopped it cold.

"Oh, I see I have met a fellow mage. But I am sorry to inform you, I have had much more practice than you, child." He swirled his hands in a dramatic motion, summoning up a ball seemingly made up of shadows. He hurled it at Jackson, which the younger mage put a shield up to block. But the ball broke his shield easily and stuck him in the chest. He crumpled to the ground.

Chica charged at him, but the Marionette halfheartedly swiped his hands at her, and she flew out of the room, back into the hallway. Mangle sat up suddenly, confused.

"Wha… where am I?" She said, looking at Chica with a disturbed expression. "Aren't you one of those singing things?"

The Marionette appeared in a cloud of shadows before them, picking up the Mangle in one thin hand. She struggled, but seemed to be unused to her body. "What's going on?!" She screamed, horrified.

A green flame started from the Marionette's shoulder and ran down his arm and into the Mangle. She screamed again, but her scream slowly became deeper and more sinister. The flames ran throughout her body, illuminating the entire hallway with pale green light. The Marionette let her go, and she stood back up on her own. Her missing eye was replaced by a small green fireball, and the white on her body turned a deep black. She seemed to grow in size, the barbed wire wrapped in magical fire. Spines grew along her back, and her endoskeleton bodies unhinged, allowing her more fluid movement.

The Marionette's laughter filled the hall. "And now I shall release my savage! I shall call her Corrupt, after my late pet cat!"

The Corrupt roared and sprinted at Chica, who leaped out of the monster's path. It hit the wall, and stumbled back. Chica tried to stand up, but the Corrupt's flaming barbed wires wrapped around Chica's legs and waist, sending pain shooting up through her body. She could feel her metal casing begin to melt, as the Corrupt dragged her back towards its waiting jaws. It drooled hungrily, its tongue lolling out of its mouth. All of sudden, the Corrupt was hit in the back with some kind of magic blast. Its bulk betrayed it in that moment, and the beast tumbled over. It screamed, and the deep growl of the Corrupt met Chica's ears. But she could also hear Mangle's scream beneath the Corrupt's. Maybe she could get Mangle to fight the Marionette's power, and cause the Corrupt to weaken. Corrupt stood back up, and the Marionette had grabbed Jackson, keeping him from attacking the Corrupt anymore. Chica grabbed one of the wires in her leg, and all though the pain threatened to overwhelm her, she tore the thing out of her. It was an instant relief to her pain, although she still had another in her.

"Mangle!" She shouted as loud as she could. "Mangle you have to fight it! Fight him!" She swore that she saw the eye that had been Mangle's turn towards her. So she tried some more. "I know that you're confused, and scared, but you have to listen to me! The Marionette made you kill your friends, remember? Mangle, listen to me!"

The Corrupt roared, and the barbed wire unhooked form Chica's leg. She breathed a sigh of relief, and scrambled away from the thing, her sharp claws sliding on the slick tile. The Corrupt smacked the Marionette upside the head, sending him into a wall. Jackson also spiraled away, landing on the floor by the Marionette's feet. He shook his head, obviously dazed, and made his best glare.

"No you idiot! It's her you must attack! Them!" He screamed in anger, waving his arms around wildly. The Corrupt spun around, growling at Chica.

Chica shook her head. "No Mangle! It's him!"

"No! Her!"

"Him!"

"She has stupid hair, Corrupt! Kill her!"

"He's a sociopathic master-mind! Kill him!"

"She's a psychopathic cannibal! Kill her!"

"I'm telling you Mangle, it's him!"

Their war was interrupted by a loud squealing noise from down the hall. All eyes focused on it, as something turned to the corner slowly. When it finally came around, Chica let out a gasp. It was a cannon. In fact, it was Foxy's cannon from his Cove.

"No, matey. It's me." Foxy said smugly, and fired the cannon. Chica ducked low to the ground just as the boom went off, and something large slammed into the Corrupt. The monster screamed as the cannonball blew it into pieces. Shrapnel flew everywhere, which Chica stayed close to the ground for. When she dared lift her head, the Corrupt was gone. The green flame on the various pieces of Corrupt were dissipating, erasing the last bits of what gave the Corrupt its power.

Chica bounced to her feet. "Foxy! You're alive! And your wounds have been healed!" And they were. Foxy looked completely brand new.

He smiled and jogged over to her. "Aye, lassie. I don't know how but I awoke healed. I assumed you had come aft and done it. But I heard t' sounds o' battle so I grabbed me six pounder and hauled it over here. You see, years ago I rigged it with actual ammunition just in case I needed it. And let me tell you lass, it cost me a rather pretty penny."

She wondered who had healed Foxy, but she had more pressing matters on hand. She glanced around for the Marionette, and found him. A piece of Corrupt's spines had lodged itself in his head, and he lay slumped against the wall, motionless. Jackson was sprawled out at his feet, and Chica told Foxy to check if he was alive. The Fox did as he was asked, and gave her a thumbs up. The mage was alive. For now. She was just relieved that she hadn't just gotten another of Stephan's friends killed.

She walked into the room and found Stephan lying on a table, with three endoskeletons standing over him. The looked at her simultaneously and began whacking each other with surgical tools uselessly. While they were doing that, she jumped over the table and ripped two of their heads off at once. Their bodies sparked and fell over onto the unconscious Stephan. The last endoskeleton looked at her blankly, and then began playing "Fancy" over some sort of radio hooked into it. Apparently the endoskeletons didn't function even remotely correct without the Marionette's guidance. She shook her head in disappointment and punched it in the face, breaking its neck and shutting it down. She moved the other two endoskeletons from atop Stephan and took a look at her friend. He was relatively unharmed, because of the inept idiots the Marionette had working for him. Well, his arm had been cut off and replaced with a robot one, but she could tell you first hand, robot limbs weren't too bad to have. As long as he hadn't been completely taken apart and put back together again, she was content. The only problem would be activating the arm with necromantic energy and the only proficient necromancer she knew was the Marionette. She left Stephan on the table, who she believed to be safe for the moment. She walked back out into the hallway and halted in front of the Marionette, who hadn't moved.

"Get up Marionette, I need you to do whatever you do and fuse Stephan's arm to his body." And then she added. "As a favor."

He didn't budge, and the blood running from his head dripped onto the floor slowly. Foxy spoke up from behind her. "Uh, lass? I don't think he be doin' you any favors. He's looks like he went t' Davy Jones' locker." And then he clarified. "That means he's dead, lass."

Chica ignored Foxy and growled in anger. She kicked the Marionette in the stomach, hard. His eyes went wide and he coughed, crumpled into a ball, and groaned. "Oomph." Said the Marionette comically. "Chica, you have some strong legs, my girl." He said, his eyes closed tight.

"Marionette, you are going to help me by giving Stephan use of his arm. And don't even attempt and escape because I will kill you. Got it?" She said forcefully and kicked him again, although this kick was softer than last time.

"Oh Chica, you needn't ask of me! You know that I am too kind to refuse." He stood up shakily and pulled the shard out of his head, which obviously pained him.

"Marionette you are probably the most horrible person I have ever met." She said.

"Well that's just because you haven't gotten out much. I'm sure you'll see what I mean. Now, let's go help my good friend Stephan."

Chica grabbed him by the arm, keeping him from trying to make a getaway. He glared at her, but went forward. When he saw Stephan he let out a loud sigh.

"Chica, it seems that my minions were unable to comply with a simple command. All I wanted them to do was turn him into a mechanical horror and they couldn't even do that without my constant supervision." The Marionette said in dismay.

"It's good they didn't, because you wouldn't be alive right now. Or in on piece." Chica told him.

The Marionette shrugged off her hand off his arm and put his hand on Stephan's mechanical arm. "Ah, this will be easy. Just a little energy here…" Green light flowed form his hand and into Stephan's arm. And then the Marionette toppled over backwards. Startled, Chica stepped back from him. The puppet moaned in obvious pain, and put a hand to his head.

"Apparently," He said. "Creating the Corrupt expended more energy than I had expected. A shame, I was going to just teleport out of here. Now I'll have to stick around for a while."

Chica disregarded the Marionette with disdain. But part of her realized that might not be a great idea, so she instead tore the arm off an endoskeleton and wrapped it around the Marionette's hands in makeshift handcuffs.

"Oh no!" He said in mock horror. "No officer! I'm too pretty to go to prison!"

Chica heard Foxy having a friendly conversation with someone in the hallway. It must have been the rest of the I.N.D.S squad Sarah had talked about. She hauled the Marionette up and escorted him into the hallway, where the hunter waited to take him to prison for eternity.

* * *

><p><strong>Hey everyone, hoped you liked the chapter and the new cover image I made. It's not that great of a drawing but it's better than nothing am I right? Anyway, thanks for the support on the story, and be prepared for the next chapter to come out... sometime. -Skellie <strong>


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